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Partnerships

The mission of Gippsland Women’s Health Service is "To work in partnership with women, Gippsland communities, service providers and government to enhance all aspects of women’s health". “All aspects of women’s health” refers to the social determinants of health as ascribed by the World Health Organisation – Social Model of Health.

In implementing our Operational Health Promotion Plan, the Service seeks to address the four identified health priorities for Gippsland women: Violence Against Women, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Reducing and Minimising Harm from Alcohol and other Drugs, and Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Gippsland Women’s Health Service continues to work closely with other organisations and networks to strengthen the capacity of the Service to assist women in Gippsland achieve improved outcomes in their health and wellbeing.

Gippsland Women’s Health Service continues to build on partnerships with other agencies and networks to increase the capacity of the Service to extend the breadth and reach of the programs we deliver. Membership of the Women’s Health Association of Victoria (WHAV) and the ongoing relationship with other Women’s Health Services across the State assists us in adding further perspective and expertise to our work.

The Service is a member of the Gippsland Integrated Family Violence Steering Committee which is responsible for the implementation of the Statewide Family Violence Reform Strategy in this region. We also continue to be an active partner in each of the four Primary Care Partnerships in Gippsland and we are the lead agency for the Wellington PCP Falls Prevention Project.

Wellington Falls Prevention Project

The Wellington PCP Falls Prevention (Upright and Independent) project was part of a Gippsland wide network of falls prevention projects, funded by the Aged Care Division, Department of Human Services. The project worker was located at Gippsland Women’s Health Service as the lead agency for this project.

The falls prevention project also worked in partnership with the WPCP Healthy and Active Living (HALS) project and results of this partnership included coordinating and facilitating focus groups in Wellington towns and rolling out Lifeball in Wellington.

The falls prevention project delivered educational sessions to community groups on awareness of falls and how to prevent falls, while also working with health service providers on tools to assist with fall prevention with seniors.

The implementation of the Falls Prevention project in Wellington enabled the issue of falls to be openly discussed within the community and resulted in a greater awareness of the impact of falls for senior people and an alertness on how they can prevent themselves from having a fall.

A copy of the final project report can be accessed here Fall Project Final Evaluation Report (126 KB)

Wellington Primary Care Partnership

 

What is a Primary Care Partnership (PCP)?

Primary Care Partnerships are a Victorian Government Initiative that commenced in April 2000 as a vehicle to strengthen, improve and unite primary health care.  Over 800 service providers have formed voluntary alliances called Primary Care Partnerships.  Currently, there are 31 PCP’s across the state.

The Wellington Primary Care Partnership (WPCP), comprising 24 agencies, is in the process of developing their 2009 – 2012 Community Health Plan. The emphasis for the health promotion planning is on:

Through partnership with our agencies and community groups, the WPCP has developed a series of interventions that will assist with the prevention and promotion of the 3 target areas.

WPCP member agencies in the Wellington Shire include:

For the purpose of this discussion the emphasis will be on Mental Health Promotion

Mental health promotion requires action to influence determinants of mental health and address inequity through the implementation of effective multi-level interventions across a wide number of sectors, policies, programs, settings and environments.

The Role of the WPCP

A key role for the WPCP will be to work in partnership with WPCP agencies and community groups to provide resources, committee support, training, capacity building, promotion, social marketing, community consultation and awareness raising to support local programs and projects.

WPCP Planning Process

Working in Partnership:

The WPCP has a formal role in guiding member agencies through their own their planning processes ata local level.  Some of the plans linked to the WPCP Community Health Plan are:

Wellington Shire Council - Municipal Public Health Plan

Wellington Shire Council - Municipal Early Years Plan

Central Gippsland Health Service -Health Plan

Gippsport – Regional Sports Assembly

Yarram District Health Service - Health Plan

Wellington Working Together (Best Start Project)

Gippsland Women's Health Service

The WPCP has a role in providing support to agencies through the project implementation and evaluation processes. This is achieved through steering committee representation, policy development, evaluation design and capacity building.  The WPCP aims to assist agencies to add to the evidence base around the effectiveness of local projects and programs.

The Gippsland Health Online website contains local demographic data that has been used throughout the Health Promotion planning process to inform the WPCP community plan 2009 – 2012.

Please visit Gippsland Health Online for further information.

The Evidence

The WPCP health promotion planning process has identified a series of evidence based Interventions to increase social connectedness within the Wellington Shire community.  These include:

 

Evaluation of Mental Health and Wellbeing interventions

A number of tools will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions.

More specific to community arts related projects, VicHealth has established evaluation tools that will be utilized such as:

The WPCP is committed to supporting local programs and projects that provide a lasting benefit to the community through sustainable partnership building with local member organizations and community groups.

Below is a summary of the current planning process for the  Mental Health Promotion component of the WPCP Strategic Plan 2009 – 2012.

Target groups identified for the next phase of planning:

 

People living in isolated and/or small communities (experiencing social isolation and disadvantage)

Objective 1: To improve connectiveness of people living in isolated communities through skill development, awareness raising, education and knowledge.

Strategies:

Objective 2: To improve connectiveness of people living in isolated communities through building their, and the community’s capacity to improve their mental well being.

Strategies:

Minority groups

Objective 1: To work towards a more inclusive community which understands and accepts individual difference.

Strategies:

Objective 2: Develop, implement and evaluate sustainable programs which address minority groups as identified by community evidence.

Strategies:

Youth

Objective 1: Build capacity for a safer community.

Strategies:

Objective 2: To create youth ownership and empowerment within the community.

Strategies:

  

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